Brother is Worried
by PlayingMindGames33
Summary: While Hiei is spending some time in human world, away from patrol, he and Kurama have a small discussion about Yukina.


Hiei sat at the table in Kurama's apartment. Ever since Kurama started college, the human had moved into his own place. Kakota's father paid for the apartment at the urging of the former Mrs. Minamino. She thought that Suichi was mature enough to handle things on his own and it would be less distracting for him to be alone. Even after many assuring gestures and words telling her that he was comfortable at the house, Shiori insisted that he start "leaving the mother's nest". Of course, Hiei was able to find him after being sent into human world on "vacation". He happened to over hear the situation at the Minamino's residence one night during their dinner. Ever since then, he had been living at Kurama's home.

The fire demon spent the entire day out avoiding certain people, and returned to the fox's residence around five o'clock. Because it was the weekend, Kurama had balanced his day between studying and working on his small garden on the terrace. He easily noticed that Hiei was unusually restless when he came back inside; not to mention he was in absolutely no mood for conversation. Kurama watched Hiei shake his head from side to side on occasion; he even took up tapping on the chair. Seeing his friend in distress, the red head prepared some black Chai tea for him, and decided it was time for the demon to talk.

"What's wrong, Hiei?" Kurama asked calmly walking into the dining room around eight at night. He was carrying a tray with two cups holding hot tea, a small pitcher of milk and a sugar container.

"It's nothing for you to be concerned with." Hiei turned his head away from him. He did not want to be bothered by the inquisitive Kitsune. Nonetheless, the college student placed the small cup of tea next to Hiei and walked around the table.

"Hmph." Kurama smiled to himself. "I see." The fox demon sat down on the opposite side crossing one leg over the other. He put a little sugar and milk into his rose tea and took a small sip. "Have you seen Yukina recently?"

Upon hearing her name, Hiei gave Kurama a strange glare. It was mixed with hate and worry. He brought his eyes down to his bandaged right arm. "Yes, I have."

"Ah, I had a feeling." Kurama leaned back in his chair and put his cup down. "You know, it's not all bad. She could have ended up with a regular human, one that has no sense of the supernatural."

Hiei let out a quick exhale. "She doesn't belong there. Kuwabara does not deserve her company."

"Now, now, Hiei. Don't be so harsh on him. They seem very happy together. In fact, she has laughed and smiled more with him than anyone else." Kurama lifted his tea to take another sip. "I thought her happiness was important to you."

Hiei straightened up and firmly stated, "It is. I want her to be happy; she deserves it more than anything else."

"Well?" said Kurama, eyeing Hiei over the top of the cup.

"Kuwabara is not capable of protecting her."

"Hiei," Kurama put his cup down and laced his fingers together in front of him. "You know Kuwabara would give his life for her."

"And a quick end it would be." Hiei said turning his head away and hunching his back slightly. His eyes locked on the dark window. "He is too weak to be able to fight for her. The fool would not last against me; he won't last against a real adversary."

"I am not aware of any immediate threat to her safety at this point. Have I missed something?" Hiei shook his head. "I thought so. We both know the dangers of the barrier being let down. Considering both races' abilities, I seem to think the humans are the ones in danger."

"You don't get it." Hiei said leaning foreword, speaking through his teeth. This caught Kurama's attention, and he gave the fire demon all of it. "Sure, some powerful demons pose a great threat to mankind, but they are forced to restrain themselves because of Enki's new laws. Those demons respect his authority and let the pathetic fools alone. However, the humans have no restrictions when it comes to our kind. If the information of the demon plane's current policies slips out to the wrong men, we are going to have another Tarukane on our hands."

"If 'another Tarukane' comes into existence, any one of us is strong enough to put him in his place." Kurama reassured Hiei, attempting to relax him by showing how ridiculous this new 'phobia' was.

"Not Kuwabara. A disgusting human can take Yukina at his whim if he discovers her location. Her tears would become very valuable in the black market and there would be nothing Kuwabara could do. It would not take much for the fool to get himself killed and lose her." Hiei leaned back in his chair. "After that, there wouldn't be much we could do, not against the humans."

"I understand your concern, Hiei; especially now that Genkai has passed away and Yukina is living in an unguarded human residence. However, Shizuru is there to keep an eye on both of them. And Yusuke visits very often." Upon seeing the lack of comfort these words were giving the fire demon, Kurama smiled to himself. "If it would let your heart at ease, I could visit them everyday after my classes." Kurama said teasingly.

"Kurama," Hiei said disgusted, rolling his eyes.

"I think you give Kuwabara too little credit. It won't take much time for him to get himself back into peak physical shape. And he can be her guardian now that they are dating." Hiei did not answer. Kurama drank some more of his tea, happy to seem to have calmed or at least silenced the worried brother.

"What?" He said, gripping onto the armrests. Hiei had only been half listening to Kurama's mini-lecture. Now, he was concerned with a small detail that had just been revealed to him. "Yukina and Kuwabara," he paused, "are dating?" Hiei leaned foreword in his chair with an awestruck expression on his face.

Kurama lifted an eyebrow and saw that Hiei was in earnest. He really had no idea what was going on. Kurama let out a sigh. "And here I thought you were bothered by them starting a relationship." He gently put his tea down on the table. "Yes, the two of them started dating a few weeks ago."

Hiei groaned and placed his elbows on the table and covered his face with his hands. "I should have never let her stay here."

"And how, pray tell, would you have kept her away from human society when she hated her homeland so much and had no brother to turn to?" Hiei said nothing and gave a blank stare at the untouched tea underneath his palms. "I thought so."


End file.
